The Maelstrom is Burning Red
by Hakureisaiga
Summary: Tribute to Reaper INI's Tenraku Hitotsu, Naruto uncovers not only the Kage Bunshin, but something else as well. Pairings not finalized. G-GundamxNaruto crossover
1. Discovery

_**Hakureisaiga- This story is in honor of Reaper INI's Tenraku Hitotsu and the remakes…note that this story will not be updated for a unknown period of time…thank you and enjoy the chapter.**_

**Chapter 1-Discovery**

"The first jutsu is the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu...arg, not this again. It's my worst jutsu, I will deal with that later if I have time. Next is the Shining Finger, this technique was created by Domon Kasshu and the clan leader allowed the Yondaime to learn it. Requires an incantation which allows chakra to be transferred into one's hand and generate enough heat to make it glow. If the technique makes contact with anything, that area will be destroyed. Okay, I am definitely learning that move!"

In an unknown area of the forest, a twelve-year-old blond individual sat with a huge scroll unfurled before him, his name is Naruto Uzumaki. In his village, Konoha, he was also known as Jinchuuriki, demon, monster and pariah.

Unknown to him was that the Kyuubi no Kitsune believed to be defeated by the Yondaime Hokage by the younger generation was actually in reality, sealed inside of his persona. "Now let's see...here is the incantation...this hand of mine glows with an awesome power..."

Naruto's hand began to glow a bit with a shining white-green light. "Cool, I'm actually doing this easily...take that, Uchiha-teme!"

Just then the glowing faded away and Naruto grew frustrated. "Damn! I am guessing that I must finish the incantation in order to keep the glow up. Oh, well, I guess I will work on the Kage Bunshin now since Mizuki-sensei is taking such a long time to come here."

Naruto looks at the description and said, "So to perform the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, you must make a cross seal using the index and middle finger...alright, here we go! **Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!**" 3 clones popped out and Naruto cheered, "Yatta, I did it!" The clones cheered and jumped along with the original and Naruto said in shock, "What? You guys aren't supposed to jump around like that. You are only clones!"

One of them said, "Yes, we are, but you forgot the description...the Kage Bunshin are actual copies of you instead of illusions."

Another said, "Maybe that is why that you suck at seeing illusions."

Naruto said, "Hey, it's not my fault that I can barely sense genjutsu."

The third one said, "Never mind that...anyway only the original or powerful blows can dispel this type of clone, making all of the information transfer to you."

Naruto said, catching on, "So basically anything that you do like training and when you dispel, I gain the fatigue and benefits of it. This will help me a lot, I will become Hokage in no time. Hmmm, what is this?"

He looked at the scroll after the Shining Finger, "Hmm, taijutsu katas from the School of the Undefeated of the East...used by Domon Kasshu also. So the guy who made the Shining Finger used this taijutsu style...the Tenkyoken style. Works for me!"

For a few hours, he followed the katas written within the Forbidden Scroll and got him to integrate the whole sequence into his muscle memory. When he finished, he was breathing heavily until...

"Naruto! I finally found you!"

Naruto looked up to see that his sensei Iruka Umino has found him. "Hehehe...I see that you actually caught me, sensei. I managed to learn a few techniques."

Iruka said sternly, "Why do you look all beat up and what are you doing here?"

"I was training...Mizuki-sensei told me about this place and about the make-up test for stealing the scroll and learning a technique from it."

"_What? Mizuki?"_ Iruka thought. Suddenly there was a whistling in the air and Iruka pushed Naruto away from the kunai projected toward the two of them. Naruto looked up to see that some of the kunai had embedded themselves into Iruka's body, but most of them missed.

"Nice job finding the moron!" Naruto looked up to see Mizuki crouched on a nearby branch. Iruka replied, "I see...so that is what's going on...Mizuki."

Naruto thought, _"Why did Mizuki-sensei throw those kunai at Iruka-sensei for?"_

The white-haired chunin declared, "Naruto, give me the scroll!"

Iruka shouted, "Naruto, whatever happens, do not let Mizuki get the scroll. Mizuki used you, so he could get his hands on it and the Forbidden Scroll holds dangerous kinjutsu recorded inside of it."

Naruto glared at Mizuki and the chunin chuckled, "Naruto, there is no point of you having the scroll...I guess I will have to tell the truth."

Iruka blinked for a moment and cried out, "N...No! Don't!" Mizuki ignored him and continued, "You know about the Kyuubi 12 years ago being defeated, right? A decree was made on that same day, but that rule was never mentioned to you for one reason."

Naruto said, "What is that reason? Tell me!"

Mizuki began to laugh cruelly, "The rule was to never tell you that you are the Kyuubi no Kitsune, the one solely responsible for the death of Iruka's parents and everyone's loved ones including my family. You were sealed up by the Hokage that you most admire and lied by everyone in the village. Wasn't it a bit odd how everyone hates you...even your beloved Iruka-sensei hates your guts!"

While Mizuki grabbed one of the Fuma Shuriken on his back and began to twirl in around his wrist, Naruto was in shock about the reason why he was hated. "No one will ever love you! That scroll was used to seal your true power up, so die, Kyuubi!"

Naruto bowed his head, his bangs covering his eyes slightly as the shuriken slowly closed in on him. His fingers slowly gripped into fists as he thought, _"So everyone thinks that I am some sort of fox demon, eh? Maybe it is better to die this way."_ Suddenly he was pushed to the ground and he looked up to see Iruka over him with the shuriken in the middle of his back.

"Why?" Naruto asked.

"Because we are the same...when my parents died, nobody bothered to stop or seem to care about me. So I acted just like you, it was so painful...I know how you feel, Naruto and I wish I could have been there earlier to help you through it."

Naruto looked at Iruka and then at Mizuki. The Jinchuuriki rushed away into the foliage of the forest as he could hear Iruka cry out his name.

Meanwhile, Mizuki laughed as he jumped down, "Naruto isn't the type of person to have a change of heart, also I think he is planning to use the scroll for revenge. You saw the look in his eyes, those are the eyes of a real demon."

Iruka forcibly yanked out the shuriken from his back and declared in a hostile voice, "Naruto...isn't like that!" He threw the shuriken at Mizuki, who seemed to dodge it with ease. The silver-tongued chunin said, "Bah! I will take care of you later, first I have to find Naruto and take that scroll from his dead body!"

Iruka thought, _"I won't let you!"_

Back to Naruto, he was running away in the trees until he heard someone behind him. "Naruto!"

The boy turned to see that it was Iruka, but he kept running. Iruka said, "Hurry, give me the scroll! Mizuki is after you!" Naruto glared at him and stopped at a branch to change his trajectory to Iruka, sending a punch to the torso.

Iruka skidded on the ground below while Naruto jumped down and took off the scroll from his back to hold it in his lap. "Why? Naruto? How...How did you know that I was not Iruka?" Iruka disappeared in a puff of smoke to reveal that it was Mizuki.

Naruto began to laugh as he too disappeared in a puff of smoke to reveal Iruka, "Because...I am Iruka."

Mizuki smirked, "I see...that you have transformed into the so called protector of your parents' murderer."

"I will not let you have the scroll, Mizuki."

"You idiot! Me and Naruto are the same...if you can use the skills in that scroll, you can do whatever you want! There is no way that demon would not try to use the scroll unlike what you think."

Iruka agreed, "Yes, the demon fox would try something like that, but that is not Naruto. If he were the demon fox, he would have killed the whole village at the age of three or four. The village should be thanking him for keeping the fox at bay. He is Naruto Uzumaki, a member of the Village Hidden in the Leaves."

Silently, Naruto heard Iruka's declaration and cried tears of happiness for his words. "Thank you, Iruka-sensei...thank you." Suddenly he heard Mizuki's voice say, "I was going to let you live for a while, but now I have changed my mind...now hurry up and die!"

Naruto's eyes snapped open with determination, "Time to return the favor!" He ran out into the open and sent a crushing knee strike to Mizuki's face, sending the rouge chunin sprawling to the ground.

"N-Naruto?" Iruka said.

Naruto turned to him and smiled, "Thanks, Iruka-sensei. I will remember your kind words until the end of my days…now stay there while I take out the trash…."

"You….you bastard…."

"The Fist of the Undefeated of the East: Keiretsu!" Naruto unleashed a barrage of punches and then shouted, "Tempa Kyoran!"

Mizuki flew back into a tree hard, coughing up a bit of blood. "You brat….I will kill you, Kyuubi!"

"This hand of mine glows with an awesome power….its burning grip tells me to defeat you…..and now here I go! **Shining Finger!**" Naruto shouted as he sent his hand to Mizuki's arm, destroying it completely.

"ARGHH!" Mizuki screamed, clutching his arm. "My arm….my arm, oh, my arm." Next, Naruto shut him up by knocking him out. "What was that, Naruto?"

"I learned a few things from the scroll including the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu….." Naruto answered, "Now let's get you to the hospital….Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" A clone appeared and Iruka was shocked. "Wait, Naruto….come here for a second and close your eyes."

Naruto did so and then he felt something on his forehead. "Okay, you can open them…" Iruka said. The Jinchuuriki opened his eyes slowly and saw that his true sensei was holding his pair of goggles and wearing a smile on his face.

"Congratulations….you graduate….and to celebrate, we are going out for ramen as soon as I get healed up."

Naruto said with tears in his eyes, "Thanks….Iruka-sensei."


	2. New Sensei, Kakashi Hatake

_**Hakureisaiga: Thank you for your reviews and support, here is the next chapter!**_

**Chapter 2- New Sensei, Kakashi Hatake**

After Iruka recovered from his fight with Mizuki, Naruto changed a bit. The first change that he made was his choice of clothing. Yeah, he loved orange with a passion, but he realized that too much of a good thing was bad.

He discarded his orange jumpsuit to wear dark brown pants and burnt orange shirt along with a light brown hoodie that hugged his torso and arms. Naruto began to quickly practice with his new jutsu and the taijutsu that he was allowed to train in.

He appeared in the classroom early to talk to Iruka and opened it to find his favorite teacher alone. "Hey, Iruka-sensei…" he called out and Iruka looked up to see his favorite student with new attire along with his old headband on his head.

"Naruto? What is with the new get-up?"

"Well, I realized that too much of a good thing is bad, so I decided to take off the orange jumpsuit since I am a ninja now. It is like I am changing from a cocoon to a butterfly…I don't have any time to perform pranks anymore since I am a ninja."

Iruka smiled, but in his head, he was throwing a victory party over the fact that Naruto had finally discarded that eyesore of clothing and that he was stopping his pranks…mostly because he was usually the butt of it.

"So what do you need, Naruto? You never come this early ever…" his sensei asked.

"Well, since I started to dress like a ninja, I need to train like one too…can you explain the leaf exercise one more time?" Naruto asked and the kind sensei replied, "Sure, the leaf exercise is basically all about focus, you need your chakra to direct it to the leaf to keep it there. The purpose is to keep your mind from being distracted and hone your concentration."

Naruto smiled, "Thanks, Iruka-sensei…"

"No problem, Naruto."

The Jinchuuriki grabbed a leaf and started to do the exercise in silence just as more students came in the room. The leaf had fell off several times or burst off, but Naruto never quit doing the exercise. Instead he had a slight frown or let out a curse or two, then grabbed the leaf and started again.

He finally got it down just as Sakura and Ino burst into the doorway. "Ha! I got through the door first, Ino-pig!" Sakura shouted in triumph and Ino retorted hotly, "Hmph, I guess that big forehead of yours blocked your vision, it is clear that I came through the door first."

"Pig!"

"Billboard Brow!"

"PIG!" 

"BILLBOARD BROW!"

"Will you two please be quiet? I am trying to concentrate and your incessant, loud screaming is not helping." Naruto finally said, thankfully saving everyone's ears along with his own. The two girls trained their menacing eyes on the bold guy and realized that it was Naruto.

"Naruto? What is up with the new threads? More importantly, I thought you failed the test…" Ino said and the Jinchuuriki replied, "It turns out that I was part of a plan to root out a traitor, so I failed on purpose to get close to the contact."

"Yeah, right…" Sakura said, "There is no way that Hokage-sama would rest that type of mission on you, you are way too loud." The Jinchuuriki said, "Then how do you explain how I can paint the whole Hokage Monument with graffiti in broad daylight, wearing a neon orange jumpsuit and not get caught by Jonin, but only Iruka-sensei is the only one that ever has."

Sakura opened her mouth to answer, but she couldn't find the words and Naruto continued, "Stealth is my element, I know Konoha inside and out since I had nothing better to do with my time. Now will you two, please take a seat next to Sasuke…both of his seats are open on either side."

Sakura and Ino silently did so and took glances at the calm male blond as he closed his eyes and began to the leaf concentration exercise once again. Iruka coughed into his hand and said, "Okay, Genin, today is your first day as shinobi. Soon you will have missions and be set on three-man squads with the exception of one and follow your Jonin sensei's orders."

"_Great, I am a ninja and a step closer to him, but I got people that are going to slow me down."_ Sasuke thought.

"_I hope that I am with Sasuke-kun…please let us be together."_ Sakura thought.

"_This is going to be interesting on who I get paired up with."_ Naruto thought.

Iruka looked at his roster and said, "Let's see, Teams One through Six are in circulation, so Team Seven will be Sakura Haruno, Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha. Also, note that the teams were made to balance them out based on your level of skill, now Team Eight will be Hinata Hyuga, Kiba Inuzuka and Shino Aburame, Team Ten will be Ino Yamanaka, Shikamaru Nara and Choji Akimichi….Team Eleven…"

Naruto tuned out the rest and then Iruka finished, "Now that you know your teammates, you will wait for your sensei after your lunch break is done." The classmates went to their respected teammates and Naruto stayed put.

Iruka said, "Naruto, aren't you going to meet your teammates?"

"I would, I think I know the outcome of that…Sasuke is just going to ignore me, like he pretty much does to everyone and Sakura is going to think that I am going to ask her out on a date. I highly doubt that the great Sasuke Uchiha is going to take time to talk to me since he believes that I am the same dead last like everyone thinks."

Later, the students came back and all sat down, waiting for their teachers to arrive. A bearded shinobi with a cigarette came in to pick up Team Ten along with a woman with wavy hair and red eyes came to pick up Team Eight. Several hours later, Team Seven was the ones left in the room and Sakura shouted, "Where is our sensei?"

"Calm down, Sakura…the man or woman will come." Naruto said calmly and Sakura rounded on him, "Shut up, Naruto, you don't know anything!" The Uzumaki replied without a beat, having four leaves on his body, "I happened to know that you took the scenic route to meet up with Ino to practically race to the Academy and you just spray on that Japanese Cherry Blossom perfume spray to further accent your namesake…"

Sakura blushed just as the door opened to reveal a lanky man with silver-grey hair standing straight up in the air and his Konoha headband was covered over his original eye. "You must be Team Seven, judging by the looks of all of you, I can come to say that I don't like you." The man said, making Sakura gasp out in anger, Sasuke let out the trademark 'Hn' and Naruto had his eye twitch a bit.

"Meet me on the roof now please." The Jonin said and he left the room to go on the roof. The Genin followed him and they sat down in front of him. "Ok, now let's introduce ourselves." The mysterious Jonin said to them.

Sakura replied, "What do you mean?"

"I think he means to tell him about ourselves, Sakura." Naruto said and the man said, "Right, for example, your likes, dislikes, hobbies, dreams, etc." Sakura replied, "How about you start? You look quite suspicious."

"Fine, my name is Kakashi Hatake, my likes are nonexistent, my dislikes…I have a long list, my hobbies…I got lots of them and my dreams…I don't feel like telling you."

Every Genin's thought was "He only gave his name out"

"Ok, you…" Kakashi said, pointing at Naruto. "You can go first."

"Hai, my name is Naruto Uzumaki; my likes are the color orange, ramen, gardening and training. My dislikes are traitors, people who judge others without knowing them and slightly vegetables, my hobbies are training and formerly pranking…I have no time for that anymore and my dream…I am not so sure anymore."

Kakashi nodded and turns to Sakura, "Your turn, Miss Sakura."

"My name is Sakura Haruno, my likes are…" She pauses to blush and glance at Sasuke and continues on the same with her hobbies and dreams. "And your dislikes…" Kakashi asked. The Haruno replied hotly, "Ino and Naruto."

Kakashi glanced at Naruto, who didn't react to the barb and thought, _"He has changed dramatically, was it because that he took off Mizuki's arm or was it just a mask to fool all of us?"_ The Jonin pushed the thought in the back of his mind and said, "Now the last one…"

"Sasuke Uchiha…I hardly have any likes and a lot of dislikes, I think hobbies are trivial. I don't have a dream, but an ambition to kill the man that has wronged me and caused the death of my clan."

Naruto and Sakura looked at Sasuke in silence while Kakashi thought, "So he still has the opened wound, I may need to break him out of it sooner or later." Then the man said, "Alright, now that we know each other, it is time to tell you about the real Genin Exam."

Naruto said, "The real Genin Exam? But I thought we passed it already…"

"You passed the Graduation exam, but that doesn't mean that you are automatically Genin. You see, every Jonin must evaluate their Genin that are assigned and that test is very hard to pass." Kakashi replied as he covered his face, chuckling a bit.

"And how many pass at all?" Sakura asked, but soon she began to regret asking it as Kakashi looked at her dead in the eyes, "Out of the thirty Genin that passed the Graduation exam, only nine will pass…our test has a 67% chance of failure."

Naruto said, grinning, "In other words, I guess we have to impress you with our skills then, Sensei." Kakashi turns to the resident Jinchuuriki, "You better hope that your skills are enough to take you three as a team. Meet me at Training Area number three by ten in the morning and don't eat or else you will throw up."

The Hatake disappeared with a Shunshin and the Genin went home. Naruto went to the place where he had his first major battle as a new graduate and trained there until night appeared on the horizon. He woke up this morning and thought to himself, _"Should I come early and eat breakfast? I mean, it would show that I am being serious, but eating no breakfast means I have no energy to fight him at all. Wait…he wants me to be weakened, so it would be easier to kick my ass."_

Naruto chose to eat his breakfast and show up early at the Training Area; slowly he became bored and started to warm up by practicing his newfound taijutsu. Soon Sasuke and Sakura came around, then two hours rolled away and Kakashi came to the training ground, "Yo!"

"You're late!" Sakura shouted and the Jonin rubbed the back of his head, "I'm sorry, I got lost on the road of life today, so I had to backtrack and retrace my steps. Ok, it is noon…now your objective is to get these bells from me."

Kakashi took out bells from his pocket and bounced them a bit to make them ring. "But sensei, there is only two bells, you are missing one." Sakura said, pointing it out and the Jonin said, "Very observant, Sakura, you see, the thing is that one who doesn't get a bell will be tied to one of those stumps, forced to watch the remaining eat and will be sent back to the Academy for further training."

Sakura gasped and Sasuke thought, "_So that is why he told us not to eat."_ Naruto smirked while Sasuke and Sakura's stomach growled out in protest. Sakura said, "But, sensei, won't you get hurt?" Kakashi said, "Don't worry, Sakura, I will be fine…now are you all ready?"

The genin got into ready stances and Kakashi said, "Then let's be…" He was interrupted as Naruto came forward and attacked with a frontal kick. The Jonin caught Naruto by his ankle and threw him to the ground, but the Jinchuuriki moved his hands in front of him to use his other leg to kick him in the chest.

Kakashi used his forearm to block it and used his foot to kick him in the head only for Naruto to disappear in a white plume of smoke. "I didn't tell you to start, Naruto…" Kakashi said, looking over at the tree to his right.

Naruto cracked his knuckles and neck, "Sorry, I get a bit antsy when I get to fighting…I still haven't gotten rid of that yet. I don't like it when things stand still or talk too much…" The Hatake smirked, "Well, then let's get started."

The Genin moved away into the trees, leaving Kakashi alone within the clearing. "Hmm, well, that is interesting…very interesting, by now, I thought that Naruto would be the first to att…" He was rudely interrupted from his reading of the Icha Icha Paradise by a thrown kunai.

Kakashi glanced over to see Naruto in front of him with an outstretched hand. "Turns out that I was right…" the Jonin replied. The Jinchuuriki smirked, "Good…**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!**" Five clones appeared and attacked the Jonin, but the man ducked and weaved a bit to avoid the hits.

"_He has gotten better with his taijutsu over this week, but I can't believe how fast he gotten it down."_ Kakashi thought as he blocked their attacks. Naruto aimed a kick at Kakashi's head, who ducked under it and then the Jonin said, "Never let your opponent get behind you…**Konoha Taijutsu Ougi: Sennen Goroshi!**"

Kakashi used his two fingers to launch Naruto from his butt, but then Naruto disappeared into a white plume of smoke. "What?" Kakashi said in surprise and Naruto came from the earth with an uppercut, making the Jonin back up a bit.

Then a clone appeared on his back and Naruto said with a cocky smile, "Now what was that about not letting your opponent get behind you?" The real one moved to kick his sensei in the face, but then Kakashi used a Kawarimi with a log.

"Damn, I missed…" Naruto cursed as he quickly took in his surroundings, "Where is he?" Suddenly a sinking feeling came in his stomach and he instinctively jumped in the air to avoid Kakashi's hand grabbing his ankle.

"_That was so close…"_ The Jinchuuriki thought, _"Way too close."_ But then he was broken out of his thoughts as Kakashi came in front of him and threw him towards the tree. The blond slammed into it and Kakashi sent a punch to his stomach, making Naruto gasp for air.

Kakashi moved to knock him out only for Naruto to reveal that he was a clone. "Damn clones…" Kakashi muttered, "Oh, well, on to the next one, I suppose." With that, the Jonin leapt off to find his next victim.

The Haruno ran through the forest with two things in mind. The number one priority was to find Sasuke and you have a sure guarantee to be safe from Kakashi. Being with Naruto or Ishide meant trouble, especially Ishide and number two was avoid Kakashi-sensei until Sasuke takes him out.

"_Where is Sasuke-kun? Could Kakashi-sensei have…no, he couldn't have! Sasuke-kun is more…"_ She thought until she stopped abruptly and let out a small gasp. A few meters away, Kakashi was standing, reading his ever-present book.

"_Whew, he almost saw me…"_she thought as she let out a breath of relief until… "Sakura, behind you." A voice said. Sakura turned to see Kakashi make the Ram seal and said, **"Magen: Narakumi no Jutsu!"** Sakura was plunged into a world of hidden meaning as the leaves scattered around her in the wind across her vision for a few minutes.

"Huh? What happened? Where is sensei? Something is definitely wrong here." She said, confused. "S-Sakura…." A voice said. Sakura instantly recognized it and turned around quickly, "Sasuke-kun…" The Haruno turned to see that her crush was severely infused with kunai and shuriken embedded in his body and one of his legs was twisted all the way around.

"H-Help me… S-Sakura." Sasuke gasped out in pain. The pink-haired girl did one thing…well, two things actually. The first thing that she did was scream for dear life and the next thing she did was faint. _"Maybe I was a bit too hard on her."_ Kakashi thought to himself, _"Nah…"_

The Uchiha attack a seemingly unsuspecting Kakashi with a mix of kunai and shuriken, which all of them hit their designated target only for the Jonin to reveal that he used the Kawarimi no Jutsu. Sasuke thought as he ran, _"Damn it, he knows where I am now! I have to move!"_

He jumped through the trees until he came into a clearing. Using his honed senses, he found out fairly quickly that he was not alone. "I am not like any of those losers…" he stated calmly. Kakashi was leaning against the tree with his book in his hand, "Say that after you get a bell, Sasuke."

The Uchiha sent a kunai at his teacher, who dodged it by springing to another tree, but Kakashi looked to see that Sasuke has a wide smirk plastered on his face. _"Damn, a trap!"_ The Jonin cursed in his head as knives were launched at the tree he was previously at.

Kakashi skidded on the ground to get his bearings and looked up to see that Sasuke charge and came in with a flying kick. The Jonin quickly tucked his book away and caught Sasuke's leg. Next, Sasuke threw a punch with his right arm, but Kakashi was able to catch that too, occupying all of his free hands.

Sasuke tried to use this advantage by twisting to use his free leg to aim at Kakashi's head. The white-haired Jonin used his forearm to block it only to realize that Sasuke was planning to use his free arm to get the bells.

Quickly, Kakashi tossed Sasuke away from his persona just as the Uchiha touched the bells. Then Sasuke began to do hand signs that Kakashi recognized instantly, _"What? That is impossible; a mere Genin shouldn't have that much chakra to perform that jutsu!" _

"**Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!"** Sasuke shouted and then he blew a fireball at his teacher. The Jutsu engulfed the man and when it finally dissipated, Sasuke frowned in disappointment as he saw that there was no body or the smell of burnt flesh.

"Where is he? Left...Right…Above…Behind…then he must be…"

"That's right, I am below you…**Doton: Shinju Zanshu no Jutsu!**" Kakashi said as his hand burst out of the earth to latch on to Sasuke's ankle tightly. Suddenly the Uchiha was yanked down to the earth and Kakashi burst out of the ground before Sasuke's head. "Better luck next time, Sasuke…now let me see if I can find your teammates to play with." Kakashi said before he rushed off into the woods in search for one of his students.

"_Damn it! I can't move at all!"_ Sasuke thought angrily. Soon Sakura came out of the forest and screamed as she saw Sasuke's head staring at her. Naruto, in the meantime, fought against Kakashi one last time and got knocked out just as the time ran out.

"Damn it…" he thought and when he woke up, Kakashi said, "Well, since you three didn't get the bells, I guess I have to fail you." Sasuke got up in a rage and attacked Kakashi only for the Jonin to put his arm behind his back in an uncomfortable position and sat on him. 

Sakura shouted, "Hey, get off Sasuke-kun right now!" Kakashi looked at each of them, "You think this is a game? Grow up! You three don't have what it takes to be a ninja…you don't realize what the point of this exercise was."

Naruto said, "It was teamwork, sensei…"

The Jonin looked at Naruto, "If you knew that, why didn't you ask for help?" The Jinchuuriki answered back calmly, "Let's start with Sakura, she mentioned that her dislike was me, so what makes you think that she was going to ask me or let alone let me ask her for help. As for Sasuke, he has the 'lone wolf' attitude, basically doing everything himself and won't admit that he would need help. Considering that his target is his own brother, who happened to be an ex-ANBU Captain as well as a master of his bloodline, you think he would realize that he needs help with that as well."

Sakura looked down in shame at the realization and Sasuke merely glared up between Naruto and Kakashi. "Excellent observation, Naruto…" Kakashi said, "But like I was saying before, because of teamwork, you wouldn't have to face situations like this…"

Kakashi gave an example by simply putting a kunai near Sasuke's neck, "Naruto, kill Sakura or Sasuke dies." Sakura gasped in surprise and Naruto didn't even twitch. Kakashi put the kunai away and said, "That is what usually happens on a mission…"

Kakashi shuffled over to the stone slab, "Look at these markers with all the heroes of our village, but the ones here died in the line of duty…my best friends' names are on here." Naruto and Sakura had looks of sympathy on his face while Sasuke looked impassive.

Kakashi said, "Okay, I'm giving you one more chance. If you are prepared to continue, eat your bento and no sharing with Sakura. Either one of you feeds her, you fail. My word is law, got it?" Kakashi then poofed away, using the Body Flicker Jutsu.

Sasuke ate the bento silently until Sakura's stomach growled with a loud rumble. Then Naruto rose up to untie Sakura and shoved the bento in front of her, saying, "Here, eat it!" Sasuke said, "You idiot, you are going to fail us if you…"

Naruto looked at him, "Kakashi is giving us another chance to beat him, you nor Sakura could keep up with him really good because you listened to his advice in eating. Don't you know that if you don't eat, you can hardly work at all."

Sasuke stayed silent and Naruto turned to Sakura, "Eat the damn bento, I already ate this morning…" Sakura bowed her head for a moment, "Thank you, Naruto…" She began to eat the bento and suddenly smoke billowed out from in front of them.

"What the fuck I just say?" Kakashi shouted as his head peered out of the smoke. "We gotta stick together, we are a team now." Sakura stammered. Kakashi said, "You…pass!"

Naruto said, quirking an eyebrow, "Say what?" Kakashi replied, "Most of you have been following my orders like little robots except Naruto. A shinobi must look underneath the underneath. Those who fall to follow orders are trash, but those who abandon their teammates are worse than trash."

Naruto smirked, _"You got to admit, that was kinda cool."_ He thought to himself. Kakashi said, "Team 7, your duties will commence tomorrow." Naruto grinned, "This is going to be fun...I am finally a ninja now.


	3. Welcome to Wave

**Chapter 3- Welcome to Wave**

Naruto looked at the gates and thought, _"This will be my first time sitting out of the village. Finally…I can get away from those glares for a little while."_ Team Seven, along with their client, Tazuna walked in silence until Sakura asked, "Tazuna-san, you hail from the Land of Waves, right?"

"Yeah, what of it?"

Then she turned to Kakashi, "Um, Sensei, are there any ninja there?"

Sasuke thought, _"You have got to be kidding me? If there were any ninja in Wave Country, then why the bloody hell would he hire us at all?"_

Kakashi replied, "No, not in Wave Country. But as a general rule, even all the differences that exist in local customs and cultures, most other lands have their own hidden village where a ninja clan resides. The ninja village serves as a military force, therefore protecting their own and relations with neighboring countries. Unlike the Land of Waves, a small island, a ninja village is unnecessary. The most powerful are Konoha, Kiri, Iwa, Kumo and Suna….dubbed as the Five Great Countries and the only one where the leader calls him or herself a Kage."

Sakura said, "Really? Lord Hokage is so amazing…"

"Yeah, he is…the old man still got it." Naruto said absentmindedly.

Kakashi said to Sakura, "Don't worry; you wouldn't be facing enemy ninja, probably just bandits." Tazuna's face suddenly became crestfallen and Sasuke caught on to it, knowing something was up. The group passed by a puddle, which Kakashi looked at briefly.

Suddenly the puddle rose up to reveal two mysterious vicious-looking men and the taller one launched his partner in the air. The bladed chain that connected the two was used to surround Kakashi and the Jonin was sliced into multiple pieces.

The Genin and Tazuna were surprised, and then the two ex-Kiri Chunin came behind Naruto, "Two little piggies!" Naruto quickly dropped down and swept them off their feet while Sasuke dropkicked one in the chest.

The Jinchuuriki threw a shuriken to pin the chain to a nearby tree while Sasuke sent a kunai to fortify it. The men cursed as they released the chain and one moved to attack Tazuna while the other attacked the Uchiha heir.

Naruto moved in front of the chunin and muttered, "This hand of mine glows with an awesome power, its burning grip tells me to defeat you…here I go, **Shining Finger!**" The Chunin's claw gauntlet met Naruto's hand, destroying it along with his arm.

"Gahh!" the man screamed in pain, clutching his stump. "Meizu!" the other man shouted, but then he was knocked out by Kakashi. "Good job, you three...you reacted quite nicely." Sasuke thought, _"That guy was mine…stealing my thunder."_

The Hatake looked at Meizu, who was rolling around with his stump on the ground. "Who sent you?" the Jonin asked calmly. "But…we killed you." Meizu said in surprise and pain.

"Nope, used Kawarimi, you know, disguising yourselves as a puddle when it hasn't rained for days. Definitely not your best idea…now who sent you?"

Meizu replied, "Gato…"

"I see, thank you for your cooperation." Kakashi said as he knocked him out, sparing him from further agony and tied him up with his brother against a tree. Sakura looked at Naruto, who was looking at his hand and flexing it, _"What kind of technique was that? Naruto's hand was…glowing…"_

Sasuke thought, _"What kind of jutsu did Naruto used to do that to that guy's arm?"_

"You have some explaining to do, Tazuna. Why did Gato send ninja after you for? What is going on?"

"It is because of my bridge, you see, the Gato that everyone in the world knows is just a façade, he is really a underground black market dealer…he goes into countries to take over businesses and sucks them dry just like he is doing to our country."

Sakura voiced, "So if you finish that bridge, Gato Transport would slowly lose money and he doesn't want that at all." The old man nodded, "Right, because of him, our village is slowly being suffocated and we hardly have any food or money. That money that I used for a C-Rank was all I could get from the whole village."

Kakashi sighed, "Well, those two were only Chunin; a Jonin like myself will show up this time. So team, what do you think?" Sasuke replied, "I think that we should continue, there is no point in turning back to say that we failed a mission…it would look bad for Konoha."

The Uchiha thought, _"A Jonin-level ninja, huh? This should be fun then."_ Sakura piped up, "If Sasuke-kun is staying, then I'm staying." Naruto turned to Kakashi, "Let's go…we are wasting time here." Kakashi nodded, "Alright, team, let's finish our mission then."

The ninja, along with their client moved onwards to Wave and took a small motorboat to get to the island although they had to row the rest of the way because of the security from Gato. "Thanks for risking your neck, Kaji." Tazuna said.

"Just finish that bridge, so I won't have to keep doing this." Kaji replied. Tazuna nodded and walked quickly after his awaiting escort, the five of them continued on their journey to Wave until Naruto felt a looming presence nearby and sent a kunai over in the bushes.

A few minutes later, a clone came out with a white rabbit. Kakashi thought, _"That was deviously smart of you, Naruto. Using a Kage Bunshin and transforming it into a kunai, that would certainly surprise the enemy." _

Sakura said, "Naruto-baka, what the hell was that…"

"Sakura, pipe down and shut up."

The pink-haired Haruno stopped in mid-rant in shock at the boy who doted on her, persisted on asking her out, _"H-He has never yelled at me before." _She thought to herself in shock. Naruto thought, _"Why the hell did I develop a crush on you in the first place? Oh, yeah…she shared her lunch with me and I instantly thought that she liked me, that's why." _

Then the Jinchuuriki replied, "Now think, Sakura…what season is it?"

"Summer."

"Good, now what kind of hare is this?"

"Umm, a snow hare."

"What color is a snow hare's fur in the summer?"

"Brown."

"So why is this hare's fur white still? It means it was kept as a pet. Someone is here…"

In the trees, Zabuza thought, _"So it must have been that kid or Kakashi who took out the Demon Brothers, no wonder they couldn't get the job done."_ The man grasped the hilt of his cleaver and smirked, "It will be fun to play with Sharingan no Kakashi. Now let's give them a little scare!"

The former Kiri ninja threw his large sword at the group and luckily Kakashi's sharp ears perked up at the whistling sound. "Everyone, get down!" The five of them dropped down to the ground just in time for the cleaver to pass harmlessly over their heads to embed itself into the trunk of a cypress tree for a shirtless man with light blue pants, camouflaged armbands over his forearms along with bandages over his face.

"Momochi Zabuza." Kakashi said.

"Hello, Kakashi, I never would have thought that you would take up a team of brats. By any chance, could you just surrender the old man?" Kakashi said, "So you are Gato's muscle now…sorry, but I am afraid that I can't allow that to happen."

In response, he flicked up his headband to reveal a mature Sharingan in his right eye. "Ooh, the Sharingan, I never thought you would show this so early." Zabuza commented. Sasuke thought in shock, _"What? The Sharingan is supposed to be in the Uchiha clan, my clan. But how does he have it? Is he an Uchiha?"_

Zabuza replied, "Well, then I will deal with you first, Kakashi and play with your brats next before I kill the old man." The ex-Mist ninja moved from his position in tow and stood on the lake. "Over there!" Sakura shouted while Kakashi said, "Team 7, Manji formation."

The three sprang into action by surrounding their client. _"That bastard, he already has built up a large bit of his chakra."_ The Hatake thought to himself. _"The art of the water ninjas, __**Ninpou: Kirigakure no Jutsu!**__" _

Soon a thick mist covered most of the area and Kakashi made a hand sign as well. "Where is here?" Sakura asked. "I can't see a damn thing through this mist." Naruto muttered as his eyes darted around, looking for the ex-Kiri ninja.

Next, a disembodied voice came out of the depths, "There are eight targets…." Sakura's voice quivered in fear, "W-What was that?"

"Kidney…heart…throat…spine…jugular vein…subclavian artery…so many choices, what vital, vulnerable place will I choose? Hehehehehe…." Suddenly there was a blood thirst in the air, shocking Sakura and Tazuna into terror while Sasuke and Naruto were slightly fearful due to having experience in fearful situations.

"_All of this blood thirst coming from one man, it makes you feel as if you want to die yourself, knowing that he could kill you in an instant…huh, never thought that I would have feel this feeling again."_ Sasuke thought as his hand shook.

"Sasuke…calm down, even if he gets me, I will still protect you…all of you." Kakashi declared, and then he turned to look at them, "I will not allow my comrades to die!" Zabuza answered, "I wouldn't bet on that."

The Genin froze as they realized that Zabuza has gotten in the blind spot of the Manji formation…the middle, which was where Sakura and Tazuna were. "Game Over!" the ex-Kiri ninja said. Movement was seen in a blur and everyone was flung away to the ground.

Sakura looked up to see that Kakashi had stabbed Zabuza, but then the body began to leak water instead of life-giving blood. The real Zabuza appeared behind Kakashi, poised to strike him, Naruto shouted, "Sensei! Behind you!" But it was too late; Kakashi was cleaved in two from the waist down in front of Sakura, who screamed.

The blood slowly turned into water as well, making Zabuza thought in surprise, _"A Mizu Bunshin?! He was able to copy me in this mist?"_ Next thing he knew, a kunai was placed at his neck. "Don't move! It is as you said, Zabuza…Game Over…"

Naruto said, "That was awesome, sensei!"

Sakura giggled, "He's got him!"

Sasuke replied, "No, it's not over yet….in a Jonin battle like this, one of them has to die."

Zabuza chuckled, "The kid's right. It will take more to defeat me than mimicking me like a monkey…a lot more. Heh-heh, but you are good. After that little speech, you managed to copy my Mizu Bunshin and making your clone say those words, you knew that I focus on that while you yourself used the Kirigakure no Jutsu, watching my every move. Too bad for you…"

The real Zabuza finished as he appeared behind Kakashi, "Since I am not that easy to fool!" Naruto shouted, "That Zabuza was a Mizu Bunshin too?!" Zabuza reared back to attack him with Kubikiri Bocho, but Kakashi reacted by ducking low.

The sword sunk into the ground and the ex-Kiri Jonin's next move was to turn and switch his hands on the large pommel of his sword to give Kakashi a huge kick, sending the white-haired man flying into the lake.

Zabuza ran after him, but he noticed that Kakashi discreetly dropped caltrops tactfully, and then he heard a splash and smirked, "Idiot!" Sakura thought, _"How did Kakashi-sensei get kicked all the way over there?" _

"_His taijutsu is amazing..."_ The Uchiha thought as he watched the battle unfold. "The Hatake appeared on the surface, _"This water….why is it so heavy?" _Zabuza appeared behind him as he made his hand signs, "Hah! Gullible fool! **Suiton: Suirou no Jutsu!**"

Kakashi said, "What? Damn!" The water rose up around Kakashi to trap him in a water ball, then the Konoha Jonin thought, _"Damn, I thought I could go underwater and regroup, but that was an error on my part." _

Zabuza said, "Heh-heh-heh, that prison is inescapable. You are trapped, Kakashi. With you running around free will make my job difficult. I will finish you off later after I have dealt with them. **Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu!**"

The clone manifested on the shore and Kakashi said, "I knew that he was good, but not this good."

Zabuza replied, "I am…surely you know about the Bloody Kiri Exams?"

"Bloody…Kiri Exams?" Sakura voiced. Kakashi answered, "Back in Kirigakure, their Academy exam was different….their exam was to kill your own classmate that you were assigned to in cold blood…fortunately they were forced to discard that rule because of 12-year-old Zabuza Momochi, who was not enrolled, just came up and butchered a hundred students without a moment's hesitation.

Zabuza smirked, "Those were fun times! Now you realized that you can't win against me!"

Kakashi shouted, "Listen! Run away from here with Tazuna! His Mizu Bunshin can only go a certain distance before he loses control of it. You can't win this fight!" The Mizu Bunshin came near Sasuke and slammed him into the ground.

Sakura screamed out, "Sasuke-kun!"

"Sakura, protect the old man, I will get Sasuke!" Naruto called out as he ran at Zabuza, "**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!**" A multitude of clones surrounded Zabuza, who commented, "Oh, Kage Bunshins, and there is a few of them too." The clones attacked Zabuza in a dog pile formation only to be thrown away along with Sasuke.

The Jinchuuriki got up and whispered, "Sasuke, I got a plan, so listen carefully. After a few quick words, the two boys sprang into action and Naruto sent Sasuke an army of clones to Zabuza. The ex-Kiri Jonin hacked through the clones and Naruto sent Sasuke a large shuriken.

"_So that is it what you were talking about…not bad, Naruto."_ Sasuke thought before he stated, "Demon Wind Shuriken: Windmill of Shadows!" The Uchiha leaped in the air and launched the deadly star not at the clone, but at the real Zabuza. "So you avoid the clone and aimed for my real body…pretty good." He caught the shuriken as he finished, "For an amateur!"

Suddenly a second one snapped into view, _"There was a second shuriken in the shadow of the first one?!"_ The ex-Jonin thought in shock. Sakura smirked as she thought, _"Now that both of his hands are occupied, he can't dodge this one."_

Zabuza proved her wrong by leaping in place over the shuriken, "Hah! No shuriken can touch me!" The shuriken went further behind before it emitted a short plume of smoke to reveal Naruto with a kunai in hand, "Take this!"

He threw the blade at the man, who dodged, freeing Kakashi, but the kunai had scratched Zabuza's cheek. "Why you?!" he roared in anger as he took Kubikiribocho to cleave Naruto in two only for Kakashi to stop its descent with the back of his hand.

"Nice job, Naruto, your little scheme worked."

"Just kick his ass, Sensei."

Zabuza scowled for a bit and then began to chuckle out loud, "So you made me lose my concentration on my jutsu."

"No, you simply were forced to let go, Zabuza…now…are you ready for Round Two?" The Hatake asked seriously.

"Hmph…"

The two Jonin jumped away at the same time and plunged themselves into hand sign weaving. Once the sequence was complete, they shouted in unison, **"Suiton: Suiryuudan no Jutsu!"** The water from behind each of the elite Jonin rose up to form a dragon and battled for supremacy against each other.

In the middle, Kakashi and Zabuza were in a deadlock, kunai against sword. _"Something…isn't right."_ The missing ninja thought to himself as he backed off and tested his suspicions. He found out that Kakashi was somehow copying every single move including what he was going to say.

"You damn monkey! I will make sure that your copying act appears again. Suiton: …" Zabuza shouted until he stopped, disturbed at the sight because of a silhouette that was behind Kakashi was himself. "W-What? I-Is that…me?"

"**Suiton: Daibakufu!"** Soon a great torrent of water slammed into Zabuza, as the former Kiri ninja attempted to swim in the water vortex, he thought himself in shock, _"He was able to use the jutsu before I was able to use it!" _

His back slammed into the tree and Kakashi threw kunai, pinning him to the tree.

"It's over, Zabuza!" Kakashi said.

Zabuza said, "But how?...can you….see into the future?"

Kakashi looked back at him with his ominous Sharingan eye, "Yes…the future tells me that you are going to die." Suddenly Zabuza was hit with two senbons to the neck and fell to the ground, growing still.

A hunter Nin giggled, "Hehe, you're right…he is dead."

Kakashi shifted down to check his pulse and thought, _"He really is dead."_

The hunter ninja bowed, "Thank you for your help…..I have been searching for the perfect moment to kill Zabuza."

Kakashi thought, _"Strange…he is a hunter Nin, but by the sound of his voice, he or maybe she is not that much older than Naruto." _Naruto walked up and shouted, "Who the hell are you?! How the hell are you so much stronger than us?!"

Kakashi replied, "Calm down, Naruto…" The Jinchuuriki looked at

The hunter Nin did a small Shunshin no Jutsu to Zabuza's body, "Now I must dispose of the body….farewell." Naruto attacked before the hunter Nin could finish his or her sentence.

Then the ninja shunshin quickly, making Naruto curse, "Damn it, he or she got away."

Kakashi thought for a second and said, "Of course, hunter ninja are supposed to kill and dispose of the body. The only proof he or she could have taken to prove the kill was the head and the weapon the ninja used…"

Sasuke said, "Senbon needles… no way." Tazuna said, "Um? I am confused, what does that exactly supposed to mean?" The Hatake replied in a grave tone, "There might be a chance that Zabuza is still alive."

Sakura said, "That is impossible, he was dead…you said so yourself." Sasuke retorted, "That may be true…but there are some points on the body that can put you in a false death." Naruto added, "Such as the neck…it has no protective tissue to protect the nerves."

Kakashi replied, "Enough…we will deal with it later, right now, our first priority is getting Tazuna home safely." With that, he covered his Sharingan eye with his headband once again and Tazuna said, "Yeah, you guys can come to my house and relax for a bit."

Kakashi suddenly tipped over and fell to the ground, "Damn, I used the Sharingan too much." Naruto looked at the fallen Jonin and piped up, "Ain't no way I am picking that up." Sasuke and Sakura both said in unison, "Rock, Paper, Scissors…"

"Fine…"

The three did rock, paper, scissors to find out that Sakura will be carrying Kakashi to Tazuna's house…for 5 miles straight.


	4. Growing Leaves in Wave

**Chapter 4- Growing Leaves in Wave**

Naruto and the gang, including Tazuna managed to get into town without any incidents and got their fallen sensei into bed.

Watching over him closely, the team sat in silence and then Sakura spoke up, "No, we need to prepare for his comeback...the hunter ninja was supposed to destroy the body on sight, instead of taking it away and the choice of weapon he or she used was senbon, useful only if you hit a vital spot." Kakashi spoke up, "Correct, I estimate that in a week, he will be back to finish his job. So we are going to train over that time period."

Sakura replied in a skeptical tone, "H-How is training going to help us beat Zabuza and that hunter ninja?"

"You have all grown, especially you, Naruto." Kakashi stated, looking at his students, "You have grown the most." Naruto nodded with a smile and Tazuna looked over at the open door as he heard footsteps stopping in the hallway.

"You guys against Gato? Good luck…nobody wins against him."

Everyone looked at the kid and Naruto commented, "Oh, great, Sasuke…you got some competition for being emo."

Sakura hissed, "Naruto, apologize, that was rude."

"What? Have you seen the man, he is a short midget with a cane…the only thing he has in his arsenal is money and thugs, that is it." The Jinchuuriki replied, ignoring Sakura's demand to apologize to the kid, "Hell, even Sakura could beat him."

Sakura shouted, "Are you trying to say that I am weak?!"

"No, more like you need to train more…a lot more. When we fought Zabuza and those two Demon Brothers, you barely did anything…seriously, Sakura, you are basically a ninja meat shield."

Sakura bristled in anger until Sasuke replied, "Naruto is right, Sakura. Out of all of us, you haven't produced anything on this team. Naruto has learned useful jutsu and right now, you only know the Academy jutsu…so essentially you are weaker than Naruto."

Kakashi stated authoritatively, "Enough…that is why we are going to help each other out, starting tomorrow. Set up a perimeter and secure this area. Naruto, I want you to set up traps 50 feet away from the house to make sure Gato's thugs think twice about approaching this house. Sakura, you will help Naruto while Sasuke, you will go into the town and get a map of this particular island here. Once you all are finished with your tasks, get some rest…I will discuss your training tomorrow."

The three Genin nodded and went to do their tasks, once they were done, they set their sleeping bags up. Naruto set up himself next to the kitchen, the only entrance where anyone could get through. Sakura set hers up near Tsunami and Inari while Sasuke slept upstairs as the last defense for Tazuna.

On the next day, Kakashi hobbled on crutches with his teenage soldiers into the forest, "Alright, first off, can someone tell me what chakra is?" he asked and Sakura replied, "It is the combination of physical energy and spiritual energy and when the necessary hand signs are used, the energy contained is expelled from the body as jutsu."

"Correct, now with that, I can say that you guys are not using your jutsu well because you are wasting your chakra. With the exercise, you can learn how to control your chakra and use less of it to perform your jutsu."

"So…" the Haruno questioned, "How do we accomplish that?"

"Climb trees."

"But everyone knows how to do that already." Sasuke said, not impressed.

"Not this way." The Hatake replied with an eye smile, "Maybe I should show you." With that, he proceeded to show them by applying chakra to the soles of his feet and uses the crutches to hobble to the tree and proceeded to walk up the trunk, making the Genin look up at him in surprise.

"Well, now…I suggest that you get a running start to get you up and use these kunai knives to mark your progress as you go up and attempt to pass your previous mark." The sensei stated as he tossed them in front of them.

The Genin nodded and charged at their chosen trees, "Naruto ran up a few meters before he lost his footing and marked his place before landing back on the ground. Sasuke was a bit higher than Naruto and deduced that he was expelling too much chakra to his feet, causing the bark to be crushed under pressure.

"So the trick is to find out how much chakra you need to stick. If it is too little, you slip off or don't even get up at all and if it is too much, your chakra will propel you off or crush your surface." The Uchiha thought, "This is going to take a while, but nothing that I can't handle."

Soon Sakura's voice rang out, breaking the avenger from his analytical thoughts, "This is kinda fun…" The three men looked up to see Sakura high up in the tree, sitting on the branch near the canopy. "Well, well, looks like our girl is more proficient in handling her chakra very well, but Sakura, don't get cocky over this. You also have lower reserves than Naruto and Sasuke, so I would like you to do that exercise as many times as you possibly can't…this is also a great way to expand your reserves."

"Yes, Kaka-sensei."

The Genin trio worked hard through the afternoon to master the tree walking exercise, Sakura was currently on the ground, exhausted while Naruto and Sasuke were both still going at it, panting lightly.

"How the hell can they keep going like this?"

Kakashi stated, "Well, both of them are from distinct clans with higher chakra reserves than the average ninja."

"Um, Kakashi-sensei, what do you mean both? I know Sasuke-kun is from the Uchiha clan, one of the founding clans of our village, but what about Naruto? What clan is he from?"

"Naruto's own clan is just as ancient as the Senju and Uchiha clans…the Uzumaki clan. We were allies with them back in the Shodaime and Nidaime Hokages' terms, but soon most of the clan was wiped out during the early years of Sandaime's first term for their dangerous skills. Right now, Sasuke has reserves of an average Chunin due to his body developing to handle the stress of the Sharingan."

Kakashi paused for a moment as he stared at Naruto, "But…Naruto, on the other hand, has very special chakra. His clan was known for their mastery of fuinjutsu as well as longevity and dense chakra…some of them could even manifest them into actual weapons. It took Kumo and several smaller villages to take down Uzushiogakure, hence why we have the spirals on all our uniforms to honor them…wearing their clan symbol as a reminder of our relationship as comrades."

Sakura looked at Naruto, "Poor Naruto…does he know about his clan at all?"

"Well, it was in our history books…but I doubt Naruto made the effort to stay awake during Iruka's boring lectures."

Naruto, overhearing Kakashi's conversation with Sakura, made a mental not to go to the library or at least, ask the Hokage about his clan and possible any scattered remnants of it. Knowing how stubborn he was, he figured at least a few would be alive, being too stubborn to die.

Later on, Naruto took the time to work on his new taijutsu style and using the headband that Iruka gave to him as a weapon…well, the cloth at least on it to strike out at invisible enemies, also known as trees.

By using the training from the Tree Climbing exercise, he would transfer chakra to this hand and into the cloth, by doing so at the exact moment of impact, the cloth would become a sharp weapon or a hard club, lucky enough that Kakashi was teaching this now.

With the knowledge that the Jinchuriki now possessed, he was only able to give a few lashes on the trunks of the trees that he hit. For two days and nights, it was the same routine until one day, Sakura asked, "Who is this person?"

"That man…he was a hero to our village once." Tazuna stated in a somber tone, causing his grandson to get up from the table and go upstairs to his room. Tsunami glared at her father and scolded him, "Father, I told you to never speak about him in front of Inari."

"Excuse me, Tsunami-san." Naruto interrupted, causing the concerned mother to look at him, "But if it bothers your son so much that you tore off the man's face from the picture…then why would he hold a picture of the same one in his room, crying over it while watching the sea…judging by its value, they must have been very close."

"I-I thought he threw that picture away." Tsunami stammered in disbelief.

"Obviously not, every day I noticed he would do the same thing…just hold the picture and cry silently, the occasional 'Daddy' came out a few times…so who is this guy?" Naruto stated. Tazuna nodded and began to reprise the rise and tragic fall of Wave's Hero.

The Jinchuuriki wordlessly got up and strode to the door while Sakura asked, "Naruto, where are you going this late?"

Naruto replied, "Why do you care? It's not like you cared about anyone other than yourself and Sasuke…but if you want to know so badly, I am going to train, I got a lot on my mind right now." With that, Naruto left the house into the darkness of the woods and went to where his team was training in the tree climbing exercise.

"**Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" **

Soon fifty clones appeared out of existence and Naruto barked out, "Alright, separate into five groups of 10…first group will work on the trees, second group will work on the taijutsu, third group will work on the jutsu, Wind Style: Beast Wave Palm, fourth group and fifth group, sparring with me…let's go."

Meanwhile as Naruto had left, Sakura was a bit downcast, "Why does he seem so angry at me?"

Sasuke replied in a condescending tone, "Considering your treatment of him in the Academy, you shouldn't be so surprised, Sakura. Yeah, he was annoying and pestering you for a date, but you could have said yes to shut him up and told him afterwards that you were interested in someone else or told him politely no. Instead, it was a no with harsh words, a hit and a lot of insults. He has the utmost right to be angry with you, Sakura."

The Haruno's face fell as she has flashbacks of the treatment of his blond teammate. "What have I done?"

**Forest-** Next morning, Haku was walking around, looking for herbs to help her master return back to peak performance. As she stopped to pick up some of them up and place each of them within her straw-woven basket until she noticed something out of the corner of her eye.

It was one of the ninja that she and her master encountered a few days ago. Haku's hand treaded close to his neck until Naruto's arm caught it in a firm grip with his eyes wide open. "God, woman, don't do that! Waking up a stranger you don't know is quite hazardous to your health."

Haku smiled sweetly, "I didn't want you to catch your death of cold…besides isn't it dangerous of you to be sleeping out in the open like that."

"Touche, miss…well, thanks for waking me up, lady."

"Haku…my name is Haku, what is yours?" she asked innocently.

"Thank you, Haku, I am Naruto Uzumaki…." The Jinchuriki replied as he got up slowly, "Allow me to repay you by helping you pick up those herbs for your friend." Haku inwardly tensed up as she asked, "How do you know these are for a friend?"

"I do a lot of gardening myself and I had to grow some healing herbs since I got hurt a lot in training…plus I also don't see you hurt, but you pick them carefully as if they are your lifeline."

The hunter ninja smiled slightly, "You have got good observation skills…are you a ninja, by any chance? I heard rumors in the village that there were ninja bodyguards in the village."

"I am."

"Then may I ask you a personal question?" the innocent girl said as he picked up the herbs alongside Naruto.

"Go for it."

"Do you have someone to protect?"

The Kyuubi Jinchuuriki looked up at the sky with a solemn look, "Hmm…well, to answer your question, I am gaining some. In my village, there is this old guy, who treated me his own grandson and there is my team, we are somewhat like a dysfunctional family."

The girl smiled softly, "Never lose them, eventually they will become your lifeline when the world comes crashing down around you." The Konoha Genin looked over at the Yuki member, "It sounds like you have experience in this…"

She nodded, "You could say that…this is enough, thank you so much, Naruto-san." The Jinchuriki stated, "No problem…just be safe, Haku." With that, she nodded once again to leave with a grim look on her face, contemplating on how she could steel her heart to kill someone like him."

Naruto thought to himself, "That girl…her aura seems so familiar…better put it on the backburner, I have to narrow down my next technique, the Shining Finger Sword." Soon he heard a voice calling his name and looked to see Sakura running towards him with a worried look.

"Sakura…what are you doing here?"

"I came here to get you back to the house and to…well, uh, apologize for my behavior towards you."

Naruto looked skeptical at her words, "Are you doing this because Sasuke said something?"

"No, but he was the one who made me relook over my treatment of you in the Academy. I was not the…best person."

"Sakura, you were a bitch, despite me constantly asking for a date from you, the least you could have done was say no or I am not interested, but it was always an insult, then a Sasuke is better than you tirade and a fist to my body."

Sakura frowned at the bitch comment and protested softly, "But that…was because you acted so annoying, you were constantly vying for attention, a prankster and always antagonizing Sasuke-kun."

"I am an orphan, I have no parents, nobody to care for me except myself…I don't even know if my parents was killed or abandoned me as a baby. So of course, I am going to call attention because I practically had no friends. As for Sasuke, I was competing with him as a rival." The Kyuubi Jinchuuriki replied before he got up and dusted himself off, "C'mon, before they think you got lost too…and Sakura."

"Yes?"

"I thank you for your apology, but you have a lot of work to do if you want me to forgive you and I don't forgive so easily." With that, he walked on towards the residence of Tsunami with Sakura running to catch up to him.

Unbeknownst to Sakura, Naruto had a small little smile on his face as he thought, _"Maybe this team will be actually be fun." _


End file.
